Fantasy Football Today - Divisional Round Reactions; One Question for Each Eliminated Team (01/19 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

To display your continued support of the show, please vote for Fantasy Football Today in the Sports Podcast Awards in the "Best Fantasy Betting and Gaming Podcast" Category https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/fantasy-betting-gaming-sports-podcast/ Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts What's next for Buffalo after another tough loss to Kansas City? That's a big topic of today's show, but first we have Fantasy winners (2:55) and losers (8:15) with Lamar Jackson shining and Jayden Reed with another quiet game. Plus, Stefon Diggs continues to struggle and we wonder what's next for him ... News and notes (17:40) with our thoughts on Antonio Pierce as the Raiders head coach and more. Then we've got one question for each eliminated team beginning with the Texans (21:10) and Packers (26:40). What will keep C.J. Stroud from being an elite Fantasy quarterback? Can Aaron Jones thrive at age 29? ... We talk a lot about the Bills (32:30) including Dalton Kincaid's breakout potential, if the Bills need a new coach or if Patrick Mahomes is really their only problem. Then we finish with our thoughts on the Bucs and Chris Godwin (40:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome, everybody. Yeah, we got four games to talk about, but we're still buzzing about the Chiefs' 27-24 victory over the Buffalo Bills. They are on to face

the Baltimore Ravens. Meanwhile, the 49ers and the Lions will meet in San Francisco. We have an exciting Sunday coming up next week. Dave, I wonder what's going to be the game of the week. We'll have to find out. I didn't get you last week, Dave. I might give you both games this week. I've got to make up for lost time.

But think about the Chiefs' five straight AFC Championship games. How valuable has Harrison Butker been? Right? Like, does this game just not make you realize? I'm serious. I mean, I know it's crazy, but just how consistent

having a consistent kicker when you watch the way the Packers game ended, when you watch the way the Bills game ended, obviously, and Justin Tucker, obviously, right. McLaughlin missed a field goal. It's what everybody's talking about right now, Adam, is Harrison Bunker and his importance to the Kansas City Chiefs. They should.

I mean, forget this guy. I want to give him some credit just for how good he has been. If you need a money kick, he's one of the best there is, man, especially when it's cold. Anyway, how are you guys doing? That was a great day of football. It was an awesome weekend of football. After the first game, yeah. Well, the first half of the first

game was pretty great. I mean, they had a punt return. It was still good. They found a way to hold Baltimore to 10 points. I thought, I wonder who's going to make... I actually got a call from my dad. He was like, whoever makes the better second half adjustments

is going to end up winning this game. And I thought to myself, okay, that's going to be Baltimore. And sure enough, it was. Yeah. Yeah, Lamar looks great. He does. I got a question here. Are we going to get a Heath Cameo victory cigar appearance?

Maybe next week. You can't celebrate winning the divisional round if you're the Kansas City Chiefs. Well, to be fair, when you asked us, because we're doing this Sunday night, you asked us who wants to come on the Sunday night show. And Heath said, it's probably a bad idea if I come on. So he was prepared one way or the other. Yeah, yeah. It would have been fun, though.

All right, we'll get a fantasy winner, a fantasy loser from the four games from the weekend, and we'll talk about some news and notes. We have some head coach news. We have an interesting quote about Anthony Richardson that I want to read, and then I'll get one question for each eliminated team. But let's start with a fantasy winner from the weekend.

Anybody got a fantasy winner from the weekend? Lamar Jackson. I mean, that's fair. You know, he's, he's, he's, we'll see what he does next week because he does this, right? He has four touchdown games and then he follows them up with 17 fantasy points.

It's not out of character for him. Well, I mean, I, again, you know, this is coming off now back-to-back weeks of when we're starting to do our rankings, you know, getting ideas for 2024. And it's easy to say right now because he's done it and he did it tonight. Josh Allen's number one quarterback. You could see a case for Lamar Jackson to be too. You know, I mean, if he continues to develop in this offense and Jalen Hurts maybe takes a step back, especially if the tush push goes away.

Kelsey's gone, at least we assume Jason Kelsey and you know, what does the rest of the team look like around him? That Lamar Jackson has the ability to do that. If he wants to, I think he could do that. If he wants to almost every time, it just, it just feels like it, you know, I mean, obviously you can't, but you know, Zay Flowers gets better.

Mark Andrews comes back. We'll see what they do to continue to tweak the offense, but another year in Todd Monk and system, why not Lamar Jackson, number two? Yeah. Well, how close was he to Jalen Hurts this week? I mean, I can't really. I don't think this year I meant.

I don't know that I can make that case. You say, why not? I think the answer would just be Jalen Hurts has been a lot better than him the last couple of seasons. And he has AJ Brown and Devante Smith. Well, I mean, I, I would throw out the two years, the year prior, you know, because Jalen Hurts is big season. You know, when they went to the super bowl, Lamar Jackson has been banged up for two seasons. And again, you know, they, they change coordinators, they bring in weapons, you know, look, I don't, I don't think Odell Beckham's the long-term answer, the number two receiver.

But, you know, do they get more creative with using Andrews and Likely and Flowers and now another receiver's brought in? You know, like there's still room to grow in this offense. So, I mean, obviously it's easy to say Jalen Hurts is number two. But I think, you know, we're certainly rounding into shape the top four quarterbacks of Allen, Hurts, Lamar, and Mahomes in some order. Speaking of rounding, if you round their fantasy points per game to the nearest

tenth of a point, Jackson and Hurts tied last year. 23.7 fantasy points per game each you can go ahead and guess which one had the better average in four point yeah when you guys guess well actually no i would i would guess hertz because he had the 15 rushing touchdowns by 0.3 points per game so they were pretty darn close hertz was a little bit more consistent than Lamar Jackson. If things go awry in Philadelphia, I think it's an easy case to put

Lamar Jackson at number two. I don't remember how you had it ranked, Dave. For me, it was Allen. I think I had Mahomes in that mix, too. We all had the same top four. It was just a matter of what the order was. For me, it was Lamar over Mahomes. Lamar was third. Mahomes was fourth.

I'm just going to go by what happened last year. I'm going to have Carson Wentz won. He was number one in points per game. Josh Allen two and Joe Flacco three. Dave, who's your fantasy winner from the weekend? How about a guy who caught two touchdowns

just in time to make his fantasy managers happy as hell and that's travis kelsey turn back the clock he did and i wonder if if he has an off season that's normal and first of all he's got to decide to come back and i think he's hinted that he will but if he doesn't have injuries slowing him down i wonder if he comes back and kind of surprises us all and this game against buffalo was a pretty good example of what we're used to seeing from him yeah he had gone what six games five games in a row without a touch like two years it was five or six yeah i mean i remember talking about it on uh on our dfs show on thursday our well that portion of it's like

maybe he's due i I don't know if you believe in due, but it was hard to keep a guy like that at the end zone for too long. Well, I mean, I think you looked at the game last week, you know, seven for 71, had the two bad drops. It was just kind of a, really a microcosm, I think, of the second half of the season for him, you know, still heavily targeted, just not producing at a high level. And look, he had a big game tonight, you know, in terms of finding the end zone. So that was great to see. There was at least one report prior to the game

that he is considering retirement at the end of the season. But like you said, Dave, he did hint that he would return. So it'll definitely be something. You know, you wonder when a Super Bowl walk off as a winner or try and come back and run it back one more time. You know, I mean, look, he's tied to He's tied to clearly the best quarterback in the league, non-fantasy related, in terms of what Mahomes is able to achieve and accomplish. It would probably be tough to walk away.

Let me see how much money he'd have to walk away from. I don't think he's worried about money. He's all right now. It's actually like a sweet... Well, I mean, we'll see. He's got to put a ring on it first. If he plays out his contract, it's two more years. Base salary is a little under $30 million.

It's actually kind of a sweetheart deal for the Chiefs for the last two seasons. We'll see what he does. Yeah. All right, let's get a fantasy loser from the weekend. Fantasy loser. A loser. I don't want to give this guy as a loser.

Come on, Dave. Do it. It makes me sad. But Jaden Reed, second week in a row, second huge game for Green Bay, and there's just too much spreading of the ball around. And I know that he's not at 100%. He really hasn't been playing a full allotment of snaps

for several weeks now but even though he was second on the team and in receiving yards it was only 35 four for four four targets four catches 35 yards he had a nine yard run i want to be excited about this guy i love the talent but i'm i'm a little nervous now going into the offseason that the packers they don't have to add anything at wide receiver they are loaded and they are deep they've got a great quarterback they can actually improve their offensive line and make that an even bigger strength could they just continue to spread the ball around and if that's the case taking jayden reed with a top 50 or maybe even a top 60 pick could be a mistake. So this is, this was, I wrote this after last week's game for the playoff stock watch,

which we do after every weekend of a playoff action on cbssports.com. So in the five games that Christian Watson missed at the end of the season, we had four games with at least 15.2 PPR points. He only scored more than 15 PPR points twice all season when Watson was healthy. And so clearly he benefits that goes without saying when there's one less person there. And so I know Adam, this was a little bit of a concern for you during that stretch one, will Watson return? Well, he won't return at the end of the regular season. And so it makes it a little tough to potentially overdraft Jaden Reed.

And again, you go over the course of the season, he was their leading receiver. He was, I believe, second in points per game among rookie wide receivers behind Tank Dell. He's just slightly edged Zay Flowers and Rashi Rice. But yes, it might be a little bit tough. Now, again, you hope year two, this is going to be a very good system. Clearly, Jordan Love is on the rise and one of the young quarterbacks that you want to attach yourself to. But, you know, between what Dobbs has done, what Watson hopefully will still do,

what Dontavian Wicks might be able to do, Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft, they have two young tight ends that are certainly going to be, you know, in the mix. And I know we'll talk about Aaron Jones in a second, but it might make it just, okay, they're all kind of tiered, but dart throw number three wide receivers to number four wide receivers and not necessarily someone you want to draft as a must-start guy. We had this conversation when we did the mock draft.

I took Jaden Reed as a third receiver. I was very excited about it at the time, and I still would be. But these last two weeks are definitely a little bit, you know, discouraging. Plus, I mean, let's just, you know, maybe give him a little bit of benefit that he has been playing through a chest injury. Who knows how much he's been hurt? Well, the thing is like Watson hasn't been doing anything. It's just happens to be Romeo Dobbs's turn right now.

Well, I think it's just, it's just, you know, more bodies on the field and how much, you know, I don't know what his, you know, playing time has been. I haven't checked the snap share, but that's probably something that factors in too, is that he's just losing a few opportunities. Yeah, I would say so. And the run game has definitely been going. Remember, he was a big part of the run game during that stretch. All right.

Do you want to give a fantasy loser, Jamie? I mean, to me, it's a low-hanging fruit, but Stephon Diggs once again. I mean, this is just another bad game for him. And I've said this a lot and got a little pushback on it. Will he be on the team next year? I don't know if there's a team that's going to, you know, covet him to the level of maybe what he brings to the bills, which, you know, he's been a very good teammate.

There was never a, he wants out because they want him out or just, I just felt like, you know, going by what happened earlier in the season and maybe not getting the opportunities and the targets and the production that he wants. I mean, they've certainly fed him the ball. You know, we've talked about this a lot that, you know, even when Joe Brady came and they ran the ball more, the target share has still been there. So they still treated him like a number one receiver. He's getting paid certainly handsomely enough, like a number one wide receiver. It's just a matter of, you know, is he frustrated and does

he want to try and force his way out? Who knows? Um, I'm sure this ending is not what he wanted because he came there to win a Superbow, and they fall in short once again. So we'll see how this, you know, all plays out. But it feels a little bit like maybe he's hitting that mark for receivers when they turn 30 and not separating, not doing the things that you typically see. I don't know if that's the case. I'm not saying that's happening. But, you know, the production certainly says that, you know, based on what we saw in the last nine games now,

you know, two games over 50 yards receiving that stretch. So is he still the same guy? Is he still somebody you want to covet? We talked about this last week. Is he a top 12 wide receiver? I'm not sure. I know. And I certainly won't be drafting him that way. You know, I'll let somebody else take that hit. Um, but I was going to say, you know, another winner for me is certainly Khalil Shakir. And I think just him being in a full-time role is going to be fun if Gabe Davis does leave as a free agent. So we'll see how this Bills receiving core looks like. And I know we'll talk about it a little bit more, but Diggs is definitely somebody you got to be worried about.

Well, if they do get rid of him, let's put him on the Giants. Give a little Dable connection there. Bring him back. We need a number one receiver there. Put him on the Giants. little Dable connection there. Bring him back. We need a number one receiver there. Put him on the Giants. That's a team that would probably be interested. Another one might be

Dallas. I don't know if they have the space to do it. Play with his brother. Can you imagine that duo with Dak Prescott? Holy cow. It'll be awesome in the regular season before McCarthy blows a form in the playoffs again. Oh, yeah.

All right, I got a fun player comparison for you. I think Dan Quinn blew it for him in the playoffs. I think the players blew it for him in the playoffs. I think the Packers blew it for him in the playoffs. You know, like, the Cowboys are soft. Just wait until we get to the Bills. You know, I was thinking something. I feel like the Cowboys are soft,

and I was wondering, why do I think that? i can't believe you're calling people soft like not no not the players that just the team in general i think it's because their jersey color i think they need to make them darker i look at the dolphins the dolphins could be the toughest team i'd be like that team is so soft their logo their everything is there. The colors of the seats in the stadium, they're marshmallows. They're just soft. That's how I feel about the Cowboys. You've been hanging out with your kids too long. You're picking teams

and who's tough and who's soft based on logos and colors. Yeah. All right. I have a player comparison for you here. Both of these guys, I'm going to give you stats. It's 17 game paces for their rookie seasons as quarterbacks. Okay. Not the same rookie season. Okay. So this is their 17 game pace. And I'll start out by saying that they both had air yard per pass attempt right

around nine yards, which is really high. And they both completed about 63 and a half percent of their passes, which is really low. One of them was on pace for 4,608 yards, 35 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. Sounds like Flacco. One of them was on pace for 4,656 yards. So very about 50 more yards. 26 touchdowns, but only six interceptions. So they had basically the same amount of yards per game. Same

ADOT. Same completion percentage. One through a lot more touchdowns and a lot more interceptions. These are both recent, fairly recent rookies, and this is their 17 game pace and as rookies, how many years apart in the last five years, I think four or five years,

but neither of them are actual rookies. Now. I didn't say that. Okay. So I feel like CJ Stroud is one of them. CJ Stroud is player B, the one with the interceptions, the low interceptions,

low interceptions. Yeah. And obviously the last five years, not low interceptions. The low interceptions, yeah. The last five years. Not a recent rookie. Yeah, last five years. With the interceptions? He was on pace for 4,600 yards, 35 touchdowns at 18 interceptions. This year?

No, as a rookie. Joe Burrow? No. Good guess. Baker Mayfield. I just thought I'd send shivers down everyone's spine. So I was like, boy, that's a really, like, we're going to talk about Stroud later. That's a really low completion percentage. What about some other rookies?

And his rookie season and Baker Mayfield's rookie season, they have some similarities. It's just a tease for what's coming up later. We're going to take a break. We'll give you the news and notes and one question for each eliminated team. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. With Smartwater's pure, crisp taste, there's nothing to overthink. So while you may be spiraling over double texting your crush, whether your skincare routine is working because you look the same

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Welcome back, everybody. Here are your news items. The Raiders hired Antonio Pierce to be their head coach. And Dave, what stands out to me here is Pierce really felt like a guy that wants to be sort of old school, win at the line of scrimmage. And we saw when they were leading, it would be very common for Josh Jacobs to have more than 20 carries, 25 carries.

I feel like he's that hard-nosed, run-the-ball kind of guy. What do you think about this hire for the Raiders? I feel like he's the Raiders version of Dan Campbell. He's going to set the tone for how the team's going to prepare and have the right mindset and be aggressive on the field, both sides of the ball, as far as being physical and tough. That's what it feels like to me. Very curious what he's going to do at offensive coordinator.

He had a pretty decent play caller in Bo Hardegre, and he let him go. And so who's going to be the new play caller in Las Vegas? That's something that's going to be of interest. Do they keep who they have at defensive coordinator, or do they move on there? They might have moved on. I don't know if that news is out, but I think it's a positive for the Raiders. And the other thing that I love about it is that their defense really turned around with Pierce as the interim head coach last year. So I think that this is something that could change the fortunes considerably of Las Vegas. Got to find a quarterback. I mean, that's the biggest thing. The coordinator, I think, is going to matter because

and that was the reports after he got the job was he's going to focus on what he knows and bringing people that he will hopefully help him, you know, supplement when he doesn't know you heard Marvin Harris, Marvin, Marvin Lewis, his name mentioned, you know, as one of those types of guys that could be an assistant head coach or someone to bring in there. But in any event, um, quarterback and coordinator, you know, that's the, that's the biggest thing. It's like D'Amico Ryans you know gets the right quarterback gets the right coordinator defense was was an improvement but those those things I think helped him as a young head coach I think the same thing would be the case for Pierce Antonio Pierce coached nine games for

the Raiders a running back had 20 or more carries in six of those games three for zamir white three for josh jacobs zamir white also had a 17 carry game so and that was that crazy chargers game you know where they blew him out um all right mike mccarthy is not going to get a contract extension he's going to be a lame duck coach pittsburgh fired their previously demote or philadelphia rather fired their previously demoted defensive coordinator. A lot of reports about Atlanta and Bill Belichick, and according to our Jonathan Jones, they desperately want Bill Belichick.

Arthur Blank desperately wants him, so we'll see if that happens. Remember that song, Desperately Wanting, by Better Than Ezra, Dave? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like Good better than Desperately Wanting. No, that's a bad take. It's a bad take. Good's a good song.

It is, but it's not Desperately Wanting. Debo samuel hurt his shoulder that's a big one we're gonna have to talk about and also i think joe tooney saw the update just a little while ago got hurt yeah he's got a pectoral injury that's chiefs all pro guard joe tooney he's got an injury that he's dealing with that's a big one for them and yeah indianapolisapolis GM Chris Ballard said that Anthony Richardson is a legitimate passer. And he also said that that was something he was worried about. He was almost surprised to see how good of a passer Richardson was in the limited action.

So me too, Chris. I think all, honestly, all of us. I think his passing took a lot of people by surprise. Yeah. All right. One question for each eliminated team. So Houston, what can hold CJ Stroud back from being among the fantasy elite? Well, I think you kind of outlined this when you brought up his rookie stats and what his pace would be.

He had a low interception rate. And what happens if he throws more interceptions in his second year and he doesn't necessarily improve his passing touchdown number as well so 28 to 30 touchdowns that's always a good number to be around but what if it's with 14 interceptions what if the yardage is right around 38 3900 a good year but not a top five type of year. And that's the type of thing that could happen. If they, if they lose Bobby Sloak,

a new coordinator comes in, not as good as Bobby Sloak doesn't work as well with the current, the current players. I think that that could happen. That could be something that, that brings it down. Now it's really hard to expect all that to be like a lock to happen when you consider just on its face right now, the division. Look at the matchups that he has next year with Jacksonville, Indy, and Tennessee.

I'm not sure any of those defenses are going to turn it around and be dominant. So there's six games right there that I think C.J. Stroud can be at least as good as he was this year in, if not a step better provided that take it dell's healthy that's obviously another thing what if tank dell you know struggles to get back into form after breaking his his ankle or his leg it was his leg um and stuff like that personnel not being as good as they were this year that could be the other thing that holds them back yeah i mean that's a lot of great points. I think the Sloic loss would be huge if they don't, if they change systems. You know, you wonder if they just promote from within, if Sloic leaves and just keep kind of touched on this a little bit with Antonio Pierce if the run game improves do we see you know maybe more of a emphasis on the ground game now Dave brought up one thing about the interceptions you're going to probably hear a lot in the training camp offseason process of at least I hope so because this is when quarterbacks take

that leap statistically you know there's very few guys that do like Aaron Rogers comes to mind where they're just, you know, anti-interception. And I know like Pete Prisco, for example, he's had these conversations with Aaron Rogers and he told him, he said,

throw more interceptions. And, and Rogers like, why would I want to do that? It's because you're taking more chances. And, you know, a lot of quarterbacks are like that.

You know what I mean? Look, we saw two in particular this weekend that through costly interceptions. Jordan Loves was the one I think that sort of stands out. He's going to his right, throwing across his body, trying to make a play. And those are the ones you want to avoid. But from our purposes, while the minus two sucks, it tends to lead to more opportunities to make some big plays. And so I think you're going to hear a lot, like I said,

in training camp of Stroud is throwing more interceptions, throwing more turnovers. And that's because they're trying things to maybe, you know, open up his game a little bit more. So we'll see. I think offensive line's huge too. You know what I mean? If he can get more consistent offensive line play,

that could help him take a step forward. But the one thing I think Adam just answered your question in a very long-winded way, to keep him from being elite, if he ran a little bit more. Yes. That I think sort of keeps him from getting to that next level. Because as a passer, I think he's going to be among the better ones. Receiving core is fantastic, or at least has a chance to be. So if he can run a little bit more, that'll put him in that next level.

Yeah. Look, I brought up the Baker Mayfield comparison. I just thought it was interesting. From a profile standpoint, it's shocking that he hasn't thrown more interceptions because you can't say to C.J. Stroud, go take more chances. He had the second highest air yards for pass attempt in the NFL behind only Will Levis, and he still threw only five interceptions. He's going to throw more interceptions next year. There's almost no way. Nobody can throw five interceptions two years in a row, basically. So you have to be, maybe Aaron Rodgers has done that or Brady or something. So that's fine. He'll throw more touchdowns too, 23 touchdowns. He had a pretty low touchdown rate. And I would point out, he had, I think, eight games, eight games where he both tanked Dell and Nico Collins played more than half the snaps. He scored more than 20 fantasy

points in six of those eight games and in one of the two that he didn't, he scored 19.3 fantasy points. So he was just incredible when they were both on the field. But yeah, the rushing totals, his 17-game pace was 189 rushing yards over the last five seasons. We have had three quarterbacks

finish in the top five overall with less than 200 rushing yards, six point per passing touchdown leagues, only three quarterbacks, Rogers, Brady, and Stafford was QB five. So that could keep them. All right. Second question. I heard a wild stat just on quarterback rushing this week that I didn't confirm, but I assume it's true. I do a South Florida podcast with Jonathan Zaslow, who was on the radio station in South Florida for many years, and he has his own podcast now. He's told me that Tua Tungavailoa only ran for six first downs the entire season.

I would have taken the under on that. That's amazing to me. Tua never runs. He never runs. we're not talking about rushing touchdowns first downs yeah wow that's like you should get one a game yeah i don't know that's crazy all right uh here's a an aaron jones question for green bay can aaron jones thrive at age 29 he just turned 29 Next year will be his true age 29 season, but he'll be an old 29. Dave, can Aaron Jones, six straight games with 18 or more carries and over 100 rushing yards

against really good run defenses too, can he do it again next year? I think he can, but I'm worried about for how long, and I'm worried about how many touches he actually gets. Because the Packers, we talked about them when we talked about Jayden Reed. They seem set at wide receiver. They're definitely set at quarterback. Maybe need a little bit of help at offensive line. They should and most likely will add another running back,

either in the draft or from this rich crop of free agent veteran running backs that are out there someone to help aaron jones someone to safeguard themselves jones got hurt this year why not have another running back ready to go possibly someone who could be a long-term plan if aaron jones misses time 29 years old again next year so i think you almost have to look at him in the same way that we looked at Raheem Mostert. Remember what we said about Raheem Mostert during draft season? Yeah, you can take him and sure, he'll probably help you get off to a good start. But once he age catches up with him, once he wears down, he'll be phased out of the offense and he won't be any good.

Now, in the case of Raheem Mostert last year, that never happened. He was awesome at the start of the year, hung around pretty much the start of the year, hung around pretty much the majority of the season, fantasy playoffs. He wasn't so great, but he was someone that kind of broke through that mold. I don't know if Aaron Jones can do that, but you draft him with the idea that he helps you get off to a good start this season. And then maybe you draft the guy with him and you just lock up that Packers backfield. I mean, we're not talking about someone that you're going to invest heavily in, you know, so that's the best part about it is, and we've seen it now in two drafts. We did a PPR draft. We did half PPR draft round five, round six is when he's come off the

board. And so, you know, you're looking at if you go hero RB and that's your second guy, I don't know if you want it to be your first guy in a, in a zero RB standpoint, but I mean, clearly he was fantastic for the Packers. You know, I mean, you look at the game two weeks ago against the Cowboys, three touchdowns, a hundred yards. Like you said, it's been a pretty impressive stretch, but we got to remember what the regular season was like to ankle injury, hamstring injury, you know, he missed time and you know, that's only going to potentially get worse as, as he gets older. So the draft will be telling free agency will be telling you know if they bring in an also ran type of guy then i think you feel confident about aaron jones if they draft somebody on day two then it's okay maybe we got to be a little bit worried but you know this is uh this is a team that

typically doesn't spend a lot of money in certain places. I don't know if they're going to go be a great, I don't think this is going to be a Derrick Henry sweepstakes type of thing. You know, not that he's the end all be all of guys out there, but you know what I mean? He's going to be the biggest name.

Well, they get pretty old. Well, what about Saquon? Those two guys? Oh yeah. I guess if, if Saquon and Jacobs get free,

it'd be, it'd be surprising if those are, you know, the type of guys that end up there, but you never know. Yeah. I think it's, it's a great system. You know, it'd be, it'd be surprising if those are, you know, the type of guys that end up there, but you never know. Um, yeah, I think it's, it's a great system. You know, it's an offense. It's on a rise.

It's, it's, it's clearly a, a, a coaching staff that trusts him. He wanted to be there. Remember he restructured his deal to stay in 2023, you know, to remain in Green Bay. And so, um, I think, I think if he is the lead running back, low end number two, high end flex, that's the type of guy you want to treat him as. You mentioned where he went in our drafts. He didn't even go 75th overall in our first two mocks. So you're right about that.

77th in the half PPR, 89th in the full PPR. So that's going to be the range, somewhere between 75 and 90 until the draft. And then after the draft, who knows? He could fall even farther. He may actually move up, though. I mean, again, if there's no competition. I guess. And just to put an asterisk by our drafts,

we're doing it with basically an empty draft board of, oh, I forgot about this guy. Let me go draft him. Right. But I would think that after one draft, that would get remedied. And he went higher. He went higher in the second one. He did.

He went 12 spots higher, a full round higher. The Packers could save over $11 million if they designated him a post-June 1st cut. So that would hurt a little bit to see Aaron Jones moving on from Green Bay, but it's an option. My money's on him restructuring and being part of a two headed backfield. Well, since he entered the league in 2017,

among all running backs with, what did I do here? 500 or more carries. That's 53 running backs. He is third in yards per carry. Nick Chubb, one where he most are to Aaron Jones three. He is actually putting together an incredible career.

He's going to be one of the more underrated players of his generation. I'd say, you know, it's really, really awesome. Um, and then, you know,

there'll be time and other on another show for going through all the running backs who have been good or bad at age 29, but it's mostly bad. It's mostly bad. I would say Derek Henry was actually, you know actually okay, but he's one of the success stories.

Mark Ingram is the best one that I've seen in recent years with a good age 29 season with Baltimore and then pretty bad after that. We're going to take a break, and when we come back, we'll talk about one question for two more eliminated teams,

Tampa Bay and Buffalo. We'll be right back on FFT. Miller Lite. The light beer brewed for people who love the taste of beer and the perfect pairing for your game time. When Miller Lite set out to brew a light beer, they had to choose great taste or 90 calories per can. They chose both because they knew the best part of beer is the beer. Your game time tastes like Miller time.

Learn more at MillerLight.ca. Must be legal drinking age. Metrolinks and Crosslinks are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. So I just recorded FFT in five with Dave before the show. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. make you smile. I thought about when I was growing up and those New York Knicks never beating those stinking Chicago Bulls. And not just the Knicks, but

every other team in the Michael Jordan Eastern Conference just, and Western, just couldn't beat that guy. And that is what Mahomes is doing to the Buffalo Bills year after year. It's how sad. I thought that the one move that the Bills should make right now is covertly get on the phone with someone that knows Bill Belichick and see if he'd be interested.

Because they've tried with Sean McDermott. They've given it their best shot many times. How do you get over the hump and finally beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs? Yeah. Well, Belichick's done it. I'll tell you. Patrick Mahomes retires for two years, plays baseball, and then the Knicks lose in the NBA finals

instead of the Eastern Conference finals, and then the Belichick lose in the NBA finals the year after that. And then Mahomes comes back after two years in spring training and re-wash, rinse, repeat. That's what happens. in the NBA finals the year after that. And then Mahomes comes back after two years in spring training and wash, rinse, repeat. That's what happens. I think the Bills should fire McDermott and hire Bill Belichick. It's an unholy

alliance on the same level as Undertaker with Mr. McMahon. 90s WWE reference. That would be Belichick being hired as a head coach for three of the AFC East team. I know but that would be uh that would be belichick being hired as a head coach for three of the afc east team i know it would be it would be something i could almost see him getting hired by atlanta and then scribbling on a napkin at a chick-fil-a in atlanta that he's

leaving to go to the buffalo bills and he resigns um but i i know that people are like i asked some bills fans about it and said what do you you think? And half of them were like, no, we can't have him. And the other half were like, I'm ready. Sean McDermott's got to go. That's an upgrade over McDermott.

As far as scheming goes, preparing players. I know we can't really put this loss on Sean McDermott, but I just feel like he's taken them as far as he can. I, I, I think it's a good take. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people would agree with you.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, if you're younger, Michael Jordan ruled the NBA in the 90s, and then he took two years off to play baseball, and the Bulls did not make the NBA finals those two years. Then he came back and they won three more championships. Well, he was suspended for gambling. That's the conspiracy theory, sure. But he was suspended for gambling. You know, that's the conspiracy theory, sure. But he was not officially. And I actually never saw him play basketball,

but I did see him play baseball in a spring training game. Yankees-White Sox was pretty funny. So, yeah, I just, like, were you going to fire Pat Riley because he couldn't beat Michael Jordan? Mahomes makes a lot of coaches look bad. And Pat Riley went to the heat, you know, and he was the man. So I think if you're a Bills fan, you just got to accept it's Patrick Mahomes' world and everyone else is just living in it right now.

That's what I think. This was the year, you know, he said it. He was like, what did he say? They'll rip their souls out. Yeah, they did. Down year for Mahomes, down year for kelsey on the road in their building like man they had everything set up so perfectly now look the the bills injuries i think played a part defensively of course they really couldn't stop the chiefs um but that's it's a great call dave

you know because the the thing that the report was about belichick going to the falcons he wanted to go to an underachieving team well you typically think underachieving as can't make it to the playoffs. Can't win your division. Like this is, this is the ideal situation of getting the guy with, you know, whether you have six rings, seven rings, um, to, you know, go in there and, and maybe, you know, get them over the hump if that's what would be the final, you know, thing. But, um, man, it'd be, it'd be fun. Eight rings knows the division definitely knows the final thing. But, man, it'd be fun. Eight rings, knows the division,

definitely knows the Patriots. After the Patriots kind of sort of forced them out. Wow. But who wins that game if you switch their kickers? That's what I'm saying. Like, what, are you going to blame McDermott for that? I really believe that if they had Harrison Bucker, they would have won that game.

If you switch Bass and Butker, probably the Bills win the game. All right. Well, we can stick with the Bills here. Question for the Bills. Does Dalton Kincaid become elite in 2024? So what we saw from him at the, in the last three games going back to, and what was his final stat line to add NC?

Five for 50. It was five for 45 on. He led the team in receiving. He led the team in receiving out of 186 yards. It's a good game, you know? Okay. So the last three games and into the season when Dawson Knox wasn't there, he was a star.

And the last three games, Gabe Davis wasn't there. And two of those games, he was a star. And so it feels as if somebody's missing, he's got a chance to be a star and Gabe Davis is a free agent right now. So yeah, I think so. When I looked at the tight end rankings for all of us, the seven people who did the rankings, he was one of the first people I was looking for.

Because you knew who the guys at the top would be. It would be the two young tight ends that everybody has at the top of the list in some way, shape, or form. In the top four were Trey McBride and Sam Laporta. Laporta was ahead of McBride, but those were in the top four for everybody. And then it was, where's Kelsey? Where's Andrews. And then Kincaid was kind of in that next group. And it wouldn't surprise me if, uh, we don't see a significant receiver addition, you know, again, and I'm not talking about Stefan Diggs leaving Stefan Diggs still there, but if no

significant receivers brought in to replace Gabe Davis and they say, okay, we're going with Shakira, we're going with Kincaid. He's got the pedigree and he certainly showed that he can do it in, in, in some, some key spots this season when they needed him. And so, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he leads the team of targets next year. You know what I mean? He's got that much upside. So he's going to be somebody that I'm excited about.

He's going to be, I think a lot of people's breakout lists for next season. And, and understandably so, and deservedly so, you know what I mean? He's second year tight ends. We always know what those, those guys tend to accomplish. It happened for McBride this year too. So if you don't want to take one of the potential top four, he's going to be in the next group, which I know Adam's going to say, well, that's the tier where everybody can't kill.

Unfortunately. But I think he's a little bit different. He might be in that first tier. It could be a little bit deeper this year. Not every tight end in that tier is bad, but yeah, we do get burned in that tier. It's the O.J. Howard tier. Once upon a time, I remember it was the Greg Olson tier.

It was the Mark Andrews tier. Sometimes it works out. All right, for Tampa Bay, is anyone going to be excited about Chris Godwin in 2024? Because we have talked a lot about Evans, Rashad White, but haven't talked much about Chris Godwin. Anyone going to be excited about him in 2024? Any chance they move him back to the slot?

Is Evans there? Let's do this as if, yes, Evans is there. Evans is there, Baker's there, Canales is there. Evans is there. Baker's there. Canales is there. They run it back all the way. Does Trey Palmer bump Godwin back into the slot? If that were to happen, I'd be a little more intrigued by Godwin

in PPR, but short of that, no. Wouldn't be excited at all. I'm going to be excited about his value because nobody's overdrafting Chris Godwin this season. He went ahead of Aaron Jones in our drafts. He went ahead of Aaron Jones? He did. And Dalton Kincaid.

I think when you look at where you can get him for what he still can do, and now we're talking about Mike Evans at 31, yeah, for sure. The next wide receiver is after Chris Godwin won. Yeah, for sure. The next wide receiver is after Chris Godwin. In the half PPR draft that we did, he was the first pick of round

seven, where DeAndre Hopkins, Mike Williams, and Khalil Shakir, and Deontay Johnson. I don't really like round seven so much right now. Kind of an ugly tier. Chris Godwin, DeAndre Hopkins, Mike Hopkins Mike Williams Khalil Shakir Deontay Johnson Deontay Johnson and Chris Godwin feel very similar to me you know like you

you kind of know what you're getting there's not what feels like a lot of upside mostly for Johnson with the quarterback situation um I mean look Godwin had one game this season where Mike Evans left early and he was an absolute monster. And so, you know, if they move on from Mike Evans, then there's a lot to love about Chris Godwin. But, you know, you're not giving us that option. But that's what it takes. In the case of wide receivers that you're taking as your number three if you don't invest heavily in the position it's not bad love him as a wide receiver for i think he was my fourth receiver in the ppr draft

i'm not mistaken um so yeah i love that opportunity to draft him like that but you know you want to draft him as a number two receiver no do you think he can get over 13 ppr points per game yes he didn't this past year and it's a three-year low he's been over at over 13 PPR points per game. Yes. He didn't this past year. And it's a three-year low. He's been over at least 14 PPR points per game each of the last two years. Consider the quarterback. Consider the role. Consider that he's getting up there in age.

We talk about Evans being 31. Godwin's going to be 28. I don't know. I don't feel quite as good about it. If they're running it back, I can't feel good about Godwin. Yeah, he also has five touchdowns. Chris Godwin has five touchdowns in his last two seasons on 272 targets. This year, though, I would say a little unlucky.

There were 25 players with 10 or more end zone targets this year. Godwin had the fewest touchdown catches of any of those players. He was the only one that didn't have at least three. He had two touchdown catches this year. Godwin had the fewest touchdown catches of any of those players. He was the only one that didn't have at least three. He had two touchdown catches all year. And 22 of those 25 players had five or more touchdown passes. And I remember doing this exercise of looking at all of his end zone targets,

at least up till maybe two thirds through the season. And I don't understand. Baker Mayfield just, it's like he thought Chris Godwin was twice as tall or like 600 pounds because he just was throwing it so inaccurately like he's not his arms don't go that far so baker they did not have a good connection those two i mean like a 62 catch rate or something like that for chris godwin who had been over 71 for straight years they just didn't have a good connection but then they got

hot late in the year the last four games he was the number seven wide receiver in PPR. He had seven more targets than Mike Evans. He had 130 more yards than Mike Evans. It was after the Carolina game when he went without a catch. Right. Yes, it was. So I actually do think he'd be a good pick in the seventh round, maybe more so. Yeah, for me, for sure. I think the one thing to uh to keep an eye on this is one of the more fascinating teams to look at in the offseason because yes they want a division yes they want a playoff game but it's such a bad division like i love dave's call on belichick to the patriots but if i'm belichick it's almost like the same thing tom brady did it's like you're looking at that division and it's so wide open to win right away you know like you go you go to Atlanta, you end up with the right quarterback. They could dominate that

division for the next couple of years. Cause I don't think Carolina is very good. And I don't think Bryce young is going to be great. Atlanta doesn't, I mean, Tampa Bay doesn't feel like it's a juggernaut by any stretch. They could easily take a step back, especially with all the potential changes that could happen. And New Orleans is old as hell, you know? So it's an easy situation with all those skill players that are so young in Atlanta. Get the right quarterback there. They can win that division for the next five years.

Maybe the right quarterback for the Falcons is currently on the Buccaneers. Kyle Trask? Baker Mayfield. They're going to steal away Baker? I don't think Baker's leaving. I think they're keeping Baker. Yeah.

Do they franchise tag him? Is he a free agent? Yes. Right. That's what I thought. They could always franchise tag him and pay him 30-something million. Go the Kirk Cousins route. I really want to see Justin Fields to Atlanta.

Yeah, that would be fun until he overthrows Kyle Pitts. It wouldn't be great for Pitts in London. You're going to be talking about still one of the lowest passing yards. You say that, though, but Cole Komet and DJ Moore are pretty good with Justin Fields. Not Komet, really. It's an upgrade. But it's also Cole Komet and Kyle Pitts are not the same player. No, but it's hard with a mobile quarterback.

It's not a knock on Justin Fields. It's just a fact. He's going to be among the lowest passers in terms of yards and attempts in the NFL. It's like Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson's going to win the MVP. It's not like he supported two receivers. It's just hard for these guys to do that.

You know? Yeah, no, I'm not completely disagreeing with you, but I think anything at this point is better than Desmond Ritter and Taylor Heineke. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, that's true. But it's, I'd rather have Caleb Williams, but I don't think that's going to land.

Yeah. No, I know that's not going to happen. I was sorry. I got confused with the bears there for a second. Um, no, Caleb Williams is not going to be there, but, uh, all right. Um, that's it for today's show tonight show. Thank you guys for staying up late with me. I do appreciate that.

Give me some early picks for the weekend. Home teams. The Bills beat. No. Oh, no. Yeah. I mean, it's so hard to bet against the Chiefs right now. I know.

I know. I'm going Chiefs. 49ers won big. And Ravens, Justin Tucker wins the game. Dude, I'm telling you, man. Right now, 49ers have to be the pick, but they are a much different team without

Deebo Samuel. That is a big, big injury for them. Detroit looked lost for the first three quarters tonight. Playing a great team. Come on, they're playing Baker Mayfield. All right, thanks everybody. Have a great... I can't believe you lost our playoff challenge.

Yeah, all in on the Bills. All in on the Bills. I'll give you the 10 points. They have a good chance of winning. Oh, yeah? It's either going to be me or Schneier. Schneier's in a good spot. Schneier's in a really good spot

because he has the Lions and like a few chiefs. And I've got a lot of Ravens and you have one Raven. I got the one Raven that matters. If Mark Andrews does play, you'll be in good shape. But next time I'm taking budget with tip one Oh one. Good evening, everybody.

Talk to you on. It's going to be a little while. Talk to you on Wednesday on Fantasy Football.